Tasmanian nurses call on state government to address burnout, safety in state’s hospitals
As Tasmania’s Health Minister spruiked a year-long recruitment “blitz”, the nurses union paints a contrasting story and say the time for action is now.
Tasmania
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Tasmanian healthcare workers have used International Nurses Day to call on the state and federal governments to ensure safe staffing levels in the local hospital system, better support for junior staff, and long-term workforce planning to address ongoing burnout concerns.
As Health Minister Jacquie Petrusma spruiked the results of a year-long recruitment “blitz” which has attracted nearly 3000 new employees into the state’s healthcare system, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Tasmania) acting branch secretary, Phoebe Mansell, said her members deserved to be heard, respected, and adequately resourced.
Ms Mansell urged the government to use the day marking Florence Nightingale’s birthday to commit to “meaningful investment” in nurses and midwives, including pay and conditions that reflected their critical contributions to the community, and greater support for education and professional development.
“Our nurses and midwives have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years, and yet they continue to step up and provide world-class care with compassion and professionalism,” she said.
“We thank every nurse and midwife today — and every day — for the incredible work they do.
“But it’s not enough to simply say thank you … the time for action is now.”
Speaking alongside staff at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Minister Petrusma said the government had recruited another 972 more nurses – resulting in a net increase of 366 – to work on wards across the state since last April, as well as 535 additional doctors, and 257 extra allied health professionals.
Describing nurses as the “backbone” of Tasmania’s healthcare system, Ms Petrusma said nearly one-third of new recruits were from interstate or overseas, highlighting Tasmania’s reputation as an ideal place to work, live, and raise a family.
“Tasmania now has more doctors, more nurses, more allied health care professionals, more ambulance personnel, more dentists, more radiologists and more orderlies than any time in our history,” she said.
Opposition Leader, Dean Winter, said while the government was eager to tout its achievements in bolstering the Tasmania’s healthcare ranks, the upcoming state budget would provide a more accurate reflection of its attitude to the size of the state service.
“Across the public sector, they’re now offering payouts to people who quit and leave their jobs,” Mr Winter said.
“This is a government that now says they’ve got the wrong-sized public sector, and they need to make it the right size.
“I don’t quite know what that means, so I need to find out in the budget what they’re going to do.
“But I know from speaking to healthcare professionals in particular, that they’re under enormous stress in our hospitals.
“We need to see more investment to keep people out of hospital, which means more work in preventive health.”
Originally published as Tasmanian nurses call on state government to address burnout, safety in state’s hospitals
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